Karen Community of Minnesota

Friday, January 27, 2006

57th Anniversary of KaRen Revolution Day

Statement from KaRen Community of Minnesota (KCM)01-31-2006

Dear KaRen nationals as well as you brave and gallant heroes and heroines of our KaRen armed forces

On this 57th anniversary of our KaRen revolution’s quest - to attain independence for KaRen people, to restore our KaRen Fatherland, achieve full Human Rights, Democracy and Peace in the country – we salute and pay tribute to our brave men and women of our armed forces still fighting relentlessly, never accepting defeat nor allow domination. We KaRen people love and treasure truth, freedom, justice and the rule of law. We place a high value on egalitarian principles and on full exercise of human rights We are the sort of people who will work resolutely to find amicable solutions to problems that do crop up in an imperfect world. We are the sort who will not kowtow to abuse and submit to intimidation. We are the sort who will willingly fight to wrest our traditional lands back from those who have forcibly taken it from us. For generations till now, ancient Burmese kings and today’s ruling class of Burmans have been blood suckers, treating other nationalities as sub-humans. Not only have they invaded and set up an occupation force in our KaRen homeland, they are there committing acts of genocide upon our KaRen people. Determined to annihilate all KaRens in Burma, their boast is that KaRens will be seen only as a stuffed artifacts in their Burmese museums. It is imperative for KaRens to resist this expansionist hegemony by the unscrupulous and despotic Burmese leaders. We must to the utmost of our abilities strive to attain KaRen independence and to restore our KaRen Fatherland. Remember, “People without a country are but mere slaves”, that sage admonition from our martyred endeared Leader Saw BaOoGyi The Burmese SPDC military dictatorship has rendered us homeless in our own home. They have transformed our homeland into killing fields, a free fire zone. To liberate our less fortunate fellow KaRens still enslaved under the burdensome yoke of the Burmese military we, the fortunate free KaRens around the globe, will continue to hold steadfast to the revolutionary 4 non-negotiable principles laid out by our martyred beloved leader Saw BaOoGyi and proceed to demonstrate our sincere dedication to the cause by rallying around our courageous combat forces in words, deeds and also with mate‘riel.

As sojourners in third countries, we have 3 obligations to meet as we take pride in identifying ourselves as KaRens. They are:-1. Impress on the world community, the legitimacy and cogency of a Free KaRen Homeland.2. Educate our youth - our future leaders – adequately. Harness their education to restore our KaRen Fatherland.3. Support KaRen Independence in all facets of our lives.

Our armed KaRen revolution is getting close to being 60 years. In those intervening years of justifiable armed resistance, tens of thousands of our noble sons and daughters sacrificed their lives. Be assured it had not been in vain. Consider this, our KNLA and KNDO forces exist and functions till this day. However the Burmese organizations such as AFPFL, BSSP and SLORC - those militant terrorist groups -exist no more. They have been stripped, dismantled and long bitten the dust. Even now SPDC is in disarray. It has retreated and is hunkered down in the bunkers of PyinMaNa in an area ironically named “Kyat Pyay” in Burmese which conveys literally the thought, “a tight retreat”. Very shortly these Burmese terrorist dictators will see their day in court at People’s Tribunal, ready to swing from a long overdue hangman’s noose. During that time we shall raise our KaRen revolutionary banners flying them high and proud.

On this 57th anniversary of KaRen armed revolution day let us pledge to diligently expend our energies to achieve KaRen Independence and restore our KaRen Fatherland.

KaRen Independence and restoration of KaRen Fatherland will be a certainty. Burmese SPDC terrorist dictatorship will be toppled. That is a certainty. The emergence of a genuine federal union of national states will be certainty.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

More Pictures from Karen New Year

Monday, January 09, 2006

Free Karen Calendar and Karen History VCDs.

We have Karen Calendar and very hard to find VCDs about Karens. Some of the VCDs includeForgotten Alliance, Mathawaw, Unity and Peace, Karen State and many more.Please emailmorrison@tcq.netto get detail list and shipping information.

Karen New Year Celebration

Karen New Year 2005 was successfully celebrated on December 31th. There were about 350 people at the ceremony including guests, Karen from Minnesota, ethnic groups from Burma, representative from schools, Refugee sponsors, church members, Vietnamese social service's representatives and reporters. All participants delighted watching Karen traditional dance and enjoyed delicious foods, knowledge about Karen New Year and Karen people and.

We want to thanks all of you who joined us at the celebration as well as those of you who send us warm greeting. We also thanks everyone who help us to make this Karen New Year celebration a success. We wish you all Happy Karen New Year.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

KCM new member orientation

KCM executive committee members and about fourty Karen who just arrived to Minnesota attended the meeting. KCM advisor Saw Benjamin Than Aung explained to the new comer of the Law and regulation regarding driving in Minnesota, steps to obtaining a driving permit and driving License and US immigration law. He also provide a lot of information that related to immigrants in US. Naw Paw Wah has discussed the KCM women group role in helping new refugee coming to Minnesota. KCM women group is very active in helping new refugee with food and household needs. Pastor Bill Englund of First Baptist took the new comer a tour of the church.Advisor Mhan Robert Zan answers questions regarding KCM constitution and KCM role in helping other Karen in the Thai-Burma border area. KCM will send representative to International Karen Meeting in Kawthoolay this coming December.Karen New Year 2006 will be held at First Baptist Church, St. Paul. More information is coming next week.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Friday, September 16, 2005

Open Letter to Presdent George W. Bush

September 18, 2005Mr. George W. Bush,President,United States of America.Ref. Statement expressed by KaRen Community of Minnesota (KCM)

Dear Mr. President,We, the KaRen Community of Minnesota, desire to humbly and sincerely make known to you our sentiments.

We as a KaRen people make up the second largest ethnic group, after the Burmese, in the land that the world has come to know as Burma. As a people, we KaRens cherish and embrace peace, democracy, freedom, liberty, national solidarity as well as the right to equal opportunity and justice.

In the world view of the history of Burma, our KaRen people were the first to establish an independent nation in the then unpopulated region. Our Calendar year has now been established as 2744. The Burmese people encroached upon our homeland a lot later (their Calendar year is merely 1367) and imposed their feudal system upon us. Terrorizing and plundering, enslaving and decimating us through deceit and intimidation we were soon robbed of our hereditary land and independence by the Burmese feudal lords.

During WWII, we KaRens were active participants in the British sponsored anti-fascist resistance against the Japanese, whereas the Burmese Independence Army trained by the fascist Japanese, invited the Japanese into Burma, fighting alongside them against the Allied forces.

Many KaRen lives were sacrificed for the Allied cause. For this loyalty to the Allied forces, the high brass of British Army promised our KaRen Leaders, orally, an independent KaRen Homeland (KawThooLay) after the war.

However after the close of WWII, the British abrogated their promise made to us KaRens for an independent homeland, instead they granted an independent Burma to the very same Burmese who had initially fought with the Japanese against the Allied Forces.

After the Burmese gained their independence, Karen National Union (KNU), marshalling all the KaRens in Burma, organized a peacefully rally asking for our own autonomous KaRen Homeland within the Union of Burma. We explored every possible avenue to reach a reasonable accord.However the Burmese government then, as well as the present Burmese Military Dictatorship in various incarnations are intransigent. Through military might and terrorists acts they still continue to deny and crush the justifiable aspirations of our KaRen nation for an autonomous Federal KaRen State within the Union of Burma.

Our KaRen people detest war. It's inherent in our nature to seek peace and accommodation. We have always desired to solve the KaRen issue for autonomy through peaceful political process.Numerous times we have met with various ruling Burmese military officials to negotiate our national aspirations, but they would always demand a complete surrender of our arms, leaving us totally vulnerable to their rapacious scheme of ethnic cleansing.

We KaRens have no other choice but continue our struggle for liberation. It has been over 56 years that the Burmese governments – both civil and military – have waged war on peace loving KaRen people. During those years of Burmese oppressive terrorism, thousands of our KaRen people have been slaughtered. Hundreds of our villages have been torched and depopulated. Thousands of our KaRen women have been raped. Incalculable amount of our property and natural resources in our homeland has been laid to waste.Raping and pillaging continues without any abatement till this day. The scorched earth policy exercised by the Burmese military dictatorship has imposed untold misery upon us KaRens. Our situation is so deplorable. Our young KaRen boys and girls have no opportunity for even a basic education. Indeed, our future is extremely bleak there in Burma.

The predatory operations by the Burmese military junta, SPDC (euphemistically proclaimed themselves, State Peace and Development Committee) against the ethnic minorities, primarily KaRens and Shans, has resulted in tens of thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) especially along the Thai-Burma border.

Their bankrupt, directionless economic policy has plummeted Burma into the shameful LDC (Least Developed Countries) camp. The country is on the verge of famine, some areas have already been stricken with famine.

This military dictatorship - SPDC have the dubious distinction as being one of the worst human rights violators. They learnt their fascist ways from their mentor, the infamous Fascist Japanese of WWII and unrelentingly engaging it to terrorize and oppress other ethnic groups within the country in their megalomaniac quest for their 4th Burmese Dynasty.

As with most dictatorship, SPDC is not an elected governing body. It is not even a legitimate government. In the democratic election which they themselves sponsored in 1990, they lost overwhelmingly (82%) to NLD (National League for Democracy) the popular people's party of Noble laureate AungSanSuuKyi. Yet, they denied the mandate of the people and refused to transfer power or governance over to NLD. They have suspended all democratic rights in the country.

They are also known to have rendered aid and protection to opium Czars, men wanted by United States of America for their nefarious activities. They continue to be involved in the production and distribution of opium, heroin and amphetamines.

These clandestine activities pursued by SPDC would only exacerbate the dangers posed by drug addiction and weaken the moral fabric of society in the USA. They are also known to be pursuing nuclear weapons capability through Russia and North Korea governments. It is a known fact that SPDC has sent hundreds of their army officers to Russia to study the production and use of nuclear weapons. Therefore SPDC, the Burmese Military Dictatorship is a threat to world peace and stability.

We KaRens of KCM (KaRen Community of Minnesota) therefore humbly request of you, Dear Mr. President, immediate action on your government's part to effect the following :-

1… that there be cessation of SPDC troop build-up in and around our KaRen State.

2…that a democratic federal union of states be formed, from all major ethnic groups including the Burmese as one of the constituent states.3…that KaRen refugees languishing in camps along Thai-Burma border be brought over and allowed to resettle in USA.

4…that the illegitimate government of Burma (SPDC) be denied a seat in United Nations Organization.5…that SPDC's nuclear weapons program be brought to a halt.

6…that SPDC's drug activities be stopped.7…that SPDC's military government be removed and replaced by a multi-national and multi-party government.

Dear Mr. President,

We (KCM) thank you profusely for allowing us refugees come to resettle in United States of America. We, along with our spouses and children are now enjoying to the fullest the true meaning of freedom and liberty. We appreciate the generous aid afforded us, by Minnesota Government's agencies as well as assistance from numerous religious and social organizations along our path to resettlement. Our future now appears illuminatingly bright here in the USA.

We are appreciative also of the generosity of the American people and their unstinting support rendered to our KaRen people in our time of dire need.

We, KaRens therefore pledge to :-Live our life in accordance with the ideals of an American citizen.Learn the American way of governance and uphold and obey the principles of American legal system. Safeguard and perpetuate the freedom and liberty enjoyed by all Americans.Assist to the best of our ability, America's fight against terrorists and terrorism around the world.

Mr. President, May you have a long healthy life. May God Bless the United States of America.